Even in the simple case that two price processes follow correlated geometric Brownian motions with constant volatility no analytic formula for the price of a standard European spread option has been derived, except when the strike is zero in which case the option becomes an exchange option. This...

Using a rich dataset of high frequency historical information we study the determinants of European sovereign bond returns over calm and crisis periods. We find that the importance of the equity risk factor varies greatly over time and crucially depends on country risk. In low risk countries,...

Most previous studies demonstrating the influential role of the textual information released by the media on stock market performance have concentrated on earnings-related disclosures. By contrast, this paper focuses on disposal announcements, so that the impacts of listed companies’...

We study the empirical performance of the classical minimum-variance hedging strategy, comparing several econometric models for estimating hedge ratios of crude oil, gasoline and heating oil crack spreads. Given the great variability and large jumps in both spot and futures prices, great care is...

The majority of risk adjusted performance measures (RAPM) currently in use – e.g., Treynor ratio, (?/?)) ratio, Omega index, RoVaR, ‘coherent’ preference criteria, etc. – are incompat- ible with any sensible utility function and would be best avoided. We argue instead for the assessment...

Generalizations of traditional preference criteria such as the Sharpe ratio, the information ratio and the Jensen alpha are obtained by maximizing a certain equivalent excess return (CER) under relevant investment conditions. They are increasing functions of CERs and therefore equivalent...

This paper presents an empirical study of hedging the four largest US index exchange traded funds (ETFs). When hedging each ETF position with its own index futures we find that it is difficult to improve on the naïve 1:1 futures hedge, that hedging is less effective around the time of dividend...

The advent of index tracking early in the 1970s and the continuous growth of assets tied to the S&P 500 index have enforced perceptions of the importance of becoming an index-member, due to increased demand by index fund participants for the stocks involved in index composition changes. This...

This empirical study examines the impact of both advanced electronic trading platforms and index exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the minimum variance hedging of stock indices with futures. Our findings show that minimum variance hedging may provide an out-of-sample hedging performance that is...

This study examines the abnormal returns, trading activity and long term performance of stocks that were added to the S&P 500 Index during the period 1990 to 2002. By using a three-factor pricing model that allows for firm size and value characteristics as well as market risk, we are able to...